Head-up displays (HUDs) have long been used in airplanes to aid the pilots. The HUD reflects information the pilot needs off of a half mirror or the windshield and projects that information at a distance in front of the plane so that the pilot does not have to look into the cockpit to see the information.
More recently, HUDs have been used in automotive applications. In many of these automotive applications, the image is projected up and reflected off of the vehicle front windshield to appear at a distance in front of the driver. With a HUD in a vehicle, the driver does not have to adjust his eyes from the road to read information, such as vehicle speed, which is normally displayed in the vehicle instrument panel.
Various current automotive head-up displays project an image of digital information for the driver. However, many drivers prefer to view certain information such as vehicle speed and engine RPMs in analog form, e.g., a pointer and a scale. Furthermore, many vehicle operators prefer the pointer to be lit so that it emits light making it easily viewable and aesthetically appealing.
Previous designs for lighted pointers are not suitable for HUD image sources because they do not provide enough light for daytime viewing and because they are not suitable for miniaturization, as required to be used in the HUD image source.